... and Ethiopia. In 2020 Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed played a key role in the attainment of the Abraham accords between Israel and several Arab states. The UAE is also seeking diplomatic solutions to tensions around countries such as Syria, Libya and Yemen.
Small countries do possess important advantages in conflict mediation compared to large economies – as noted by D. Lanz and S. Mason, “small states have unique comparative advantages in the field of mediation, as they are generally ...
... and around Ukraine, it was very important for the Kremlin to demonstrate that in the Eastern Mediterranean Russia could become not a part of the problem, but rather a part of the solution.
As it turned out, this initial plan did not work—neither in Syria, nor in Libya later on. The Russian political and especially military presence in the region very soon became yet another complicating factor in uneasy relations between Moscow and Western capitals. Therefore, the Kremlin’s balance of priorities gradually shifted ...
..., in order to avoid another entanglement on the scale of the
Sukhoi
shootdown. One of those rules was Ankara’s unconditional acceptance of Moscow’s dominant position in the post-Soviet space.
However, Erdogan’s frustrations with Moscow in the Syrian and Libyan theatres
led him to do the unthinkable
—violate this rule in the fraught conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh between Azerbaijan and the Armenia-allied Karabakh Armenians. His flagrant intervention in the post-Soviet space amid the COVID pandemic ...
... achieve by word “in this neck of the woods”. As a result, the military started replacing diplomats in a lot of venues. The argument was clear – there is still a lot of terrorist activity, so we need to be proactive.
With the tangible results in Syria, the Libyan option started to look more and more doable. However, there still was reluctance to engage on the state level. The position of the Kremlin was clear. As we do not know what will come as a result of the Libyan kaleidoscope, we will hedge our risks ...
... other might unbalance the region, creating more opportunities for American or other meddling with unpredictable consequences. Libya is also the gateway to parts of West and Central Africa, so whoever fully controls it could expand more confidently into ... ... regions if their partnership reaches the strategic level through cooperation here and elsewhere.
Levant: Resolving the War in Syria
Russia must somehow resolve the Syrian dilemma, ideally by pairing an Iranian withdrawal with the nuclear deal, sanctions ...
... allies in so far as their shared support for political Islam goes, especially through the Muslim Brotherhood. Another point that deserves mentioning is that the GCC (with the exception of Qatar) is in
regional rivalry
with Turkey across North Africa (Libya) and the Levant (Syria). Although Ankara is
trying to resolve
this rivalry, just like with Qatar, even an official end to it might not change the dynamics completely. In other words, one can say that among the most powerful transregional trends in the Ummah right now ...
... borders of Russia. In its April 2018 Bucharest Declaration, members concurred that the alliance “welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership ... [and] these countries will become members of NATO.” [
28
]
On war in Syria, regime change in Libya, and Kosovo’s independence
Cohen writes that a U.S.-Russia détente also died in Syria, where the two largely failed to cooperate to defeat Islamist extremist forces. And while some American politicians (such as Hillary Clinton) were promoting ...
Report 65/2021
Report 65/2021
The report analyses the application of foreign sanctions against Russian citizens, companies and economy sectors. It also considers global trends in the use of sanctions and restrictive measures against Russia within individual areas (the “Ukrainian package,” sanctions against pipeline projects, “cyber sanctions,” etc.). The report is based on Sanctions Event Database compiled by the Russian International Affairs Council. It contains data for 2020 into early 2021....
... that the situation could get out of hand, the U.S. have therefore been prompted to recognise, at least at expert level, the need to work on technical deconfliction measures in this part of the world. This requires finding a way to untangle the Cyprus, Libya and Syria questions.
Artyom Semyonov:
Gas Without a Fight: Is Turkey Ready to Go to War for Resources in the Mediterranean?
As for Russia’s policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, we should recall Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov visited ...
RIAC and ISPI Joint Report
RIAC and ISPI Joint Report
This Report brings together experts and scholars in an effort to ponder on possible post-pandemic trends in the Southern Mediterranean. The aim is to help readers navigate the future of the Southern Mediterranean region, by offering new insights and guidance to regional and non-regional governments, civil society, and the public at large.
After the Storm: Post-Pandemic Trends in the Southern Mediterranean
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